Midnight on the Argo II
by lollygirl128
Summary: Percy wanted to see the ocean from the deck of the Argo II. Leo couldn't sleep. How did they end up sparring at midnight? Set during MoA, Percy/Leo friendship fic.


Midnight on the Argo II

**A/N Just a little Leo/Percy friendship fic that popped into my head. Feel free to review. And by that, I mean please review. Please?**

Only seven people (and a satyr) on earth have the privilege of knowing how beautiful the view is from the Argo II when it's in the air. Even fewer know how beautiful the view is after midnight.

One of that small majority of people people was Percy. He had found that wandering the warship was a good way to tire himself enough to fall asleep, even though he had about a million things on his mind.

Tonight, he wasn't out to work up some exhaustion, it was because they were finally over the ocean. He had been anticipating this. Even though they were hundreds of feet above the water, he could feel the power of tons upon tons of water churning and moving, splashing and flowing. He hadn't felt this utterly content since that short amount of time that he, Frank and Hazel had spent on the ocean at the beginning of their quest.

To keep his powers sharp, Percy had been practicing making shapes with water when he was showering or doing the dishes when it was his turn. He was getting better, gradually using more water to make bigger shapes. Frank had soon learned not to distract him when practicing his skills in the kitchen, unless he wanted an impromptu shower.

Percy felt a slight pull in his gut as he summoned about a gallon of water from beneath him and made it hover in front of him. He was leaning against the railing and facing out, so the orb of water was above the ocean.

Percy raised his hands and aimed them toward the water, but he didn't really need to. He formed it into a trident, then a hammerhead shark, and was working on a pretty impressive one-gallon-hurricane when he lost his concentration due to a certain son of Hephaestus.

"Ya know, that's pretty neat," Leo pointed out from behind Percy, causing the latter demi-god to accidentally drop most of the spinning mass of water back to the depths below. The few cups that remained floating in front of Percy were then moved to above Leo, and released onto the Latino's curly head. Leo scrunched his eyes and grimaced as the water streamed down his face. "That… not so neat."

Percy, who had stayed facing out for the whole ordeal, turned to face Leo with a smirk on his face. "That's what you get."

Percy then evaporated the water (a skill he had recently found) from Leo's hair, and re-condensed it to an orb about the size of a softball in front of himself. He snatched it out of the air and turned around again to throw it as far as he could away from the ship. He watched it fly a ways before hitting the ocean, and he put his forearms against the railing, leaning into it.

"Although, that was a pretty hot hurricane you were making there," Leo stated, then took the same position against the ship that Percy had, with about a foot between the two teens.

Percy smirked and glanced at Leo. "Damn straight it was."

Leo smirked as well. He hadn't known Percy for long by any means, but from what he had heard at camp about what the son of the sea god had accomplished in his short life, Leo had sort of painted an entirely false picture of the guy next to him in his mind. 6'5; proud features; perfect posture; know-it-all, seen-it-all attitude; constantly bragging about everything. And he would've been in the right, honestly.

Pssh. Nowhere close.

First off, he was only 6'3.

Maybe if he had a different personality you could call his features 'proud'. He didn't have bad posture exactly, but held himself like a teenaged guy his age could be expected to. He was far from being a know-it-all—he had his girlfriend for that—and while he had seen a lot, it was really good for the rest of the crew that he could offer helpful tips during war meetings or sparring practice. And he _never_ bragged. In fact, rarely did he talk about his experiences.

So when Percy had complimented his own hurricane, Leo knew it was sarcastic.

"Why do you do that?" Leo wondered aloud. He hadn't meant to voice his thoughts, but he didn't regret it either.

Percy looked at Leo from the corner of his eye. "Make hurricanes? Entertainment, same as my dad."

Leo shook his head. "No, I mean like… you were sarcastic just now, but that really was an awesome trick. You like… downplay everything like its no biggie. Why?"

Percy stared at the horizon. "It is no biggie. To me, at least. Other people don't agree, but it's just something I'm able to do. Why show it off?"

"I don't mean you should show it off, I'm just wondering how with all the things you've been through and experienced, you just act like a regular teenaged guy? I think most people would be cocky and full of themselves."

"Those are synonyms."

"What?"

"Cocky and full of themselves. They're synonyms. So you were being redundant."

Leo stared at Percy for a long moment. "You have been spending _way_ to much time with Annabeth."

Percy smiled. "'Course I am. I have eight months of missing her to make up for."

Leo nodded and looked back to the horizon. "But you still didn't answer my question."

Percy cocked his head like he was thinking about it. "I don't know. I don't like to flaunt things. I don't want people to think of me and say 'yeah, that guy who saved Olympus and had those awesome water powers', I want them to think 'the guy who helped his friends save Olympus, who may or may not have had awesome water powers'. I've never had a reason to show off, 'cuz I'm thrown into situations that tend to show off for me, ya know?"

"No."

Percy smirked. "Well, I bet by the end of this quest you'll get it. You won't want people to think of you as just the guy who built this ship, you'll want to be more than that."

Leo understood that. He didn't want to be that smart-ass son of Hephaestus who built a flying warship _forever_. It was a good legacy for now, but someday he'd like to be something bigger and better. Maybe Percy was right, and this quest would change him for the better. Now all he had to do was survive it.

They stood in companionable silence for a few minutes before Percy spoke again.

"So what're you doing up? Just wanted to ask me a few deep, philosophical questions?"

Leo shook his head. "I didn't actually know you were out. I just… couldn't sleep, decided to walk around some."

Percy nodded. "I've been doing that since I got on the ship. There are always so many things on my mind, and sometimes I'll just randomly remember something that Hera had made me forget, and it'll keep me up at night. So I'll just try and make myself tired. We need practice dummies on the ship to spar against, that'd make me tired."

Leo smirked. "Well I'll remember that for next time."

Percy looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "How many flying warships are you planning on making?"

Leo shrugged. "Hey, I'm good at it. I'll make as many as needed."

Percy smiled. "I hope we won't need many."

"I do too, this thing was a pain in the ass to build."

Percy laughed and then they were quiet for a few minutes. Then an idea hit him.

"Hey if you're looking to tire yourself out, I can spar with you."

Leo looked apprehensive. "I dunno man, I'm not the greatest at sword fighting. I don't have a sword, I have a magic tool belt."

Percy scoffed. "You get good by practicing, duh. We'll get you a spare sword from the practice area. Besides, who better to practice with than me, the great and powerful hero of Olympus?"

Leo grinned and stood up straight like Percy had. "I knew there was some cockiness in there somewhere."

Percy shook his head and started walking in the direction of the practice area. "Nah. Only sarcasm."

Leo chuckled and followed the son of Poseidon. He rather liked this 6'1, humble demi-god with awesome water powers a lot more than he'd originally thought he would. And he'd like to get to know him as well as he could.


End file.
